Labour in new hunting ban bid

They plan to introduce a bill proposing a total ban. A similar bill was overwhelmingly backed by the House of Commons last July — but ran out of time in the Lords, where it met entrenched opposition.

The new bill is to be introduced within a few weeks and is expected to be received enthusiastically by MPs.

It will then be put before the Lords, but only after the next stage of government reforms to the upper house has been completed and the remaining 92 hereditary peers have been excluded. The government believes that this could be before the end of March and the bill would become law later this year.

Labour will still be in a minority in the Lords after the hereditary peers,…